DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-023 February 20, 2001 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrixions and searchable 2001, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html [NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn] ** ARGENTINA. 6441 harmonic, R. Luz del Mundo: At last could catch complete ID at 1006 Feb 16: "Desde Buenos Aires y para toda la República Argentina, en AM 1130 transmite Luz del Mundo en su frecuencia de Onda Corta en 3220 y 6440, C-W-uno (sic), para todo el mundo, Luz del Mundo" (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. NORTHERN MARIANAS (TINIAN) 21784.95, Radio Australia in Indonesian 17 Feb at 0419. Many mentions of Australia. I think I have the tx location correct, but there have been many changes. This one is quite regular here on the west coast of North America. Signals often quite good. Unusual audio. A bit muddy. Sounds very much like the typical RRI transmitters. Those in the know should understand what I mean. The audio processing just sounds a bit strange to me (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Does anyone know what happened to R Nacional da Amazônia on 11780? Went off the air in March 2000, was back in mid-May, but off again since 19/5/00. It was one of the best music stations on SW (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. Re R. Vancouver International: Per Keith Perron, this one is on the air Sundays only at 1200-1400 UT (8-10 PM Hong Kong) on 9735 USB. They are using a 30 kW ex utility transmitter from a site just outside Taipei. All programming is in English. News from Vancouver is at 1200-1210 and 1300-1310. The Happy Station, hosted by Keith, rounds out the first hour. 1310-1330 is a program of the week`s top Cantonese songs in Vancouver, hosted by a CHMB announcer. 1330-1400 is a world beat show hosted by Keith. The audience is for Hong Kong Chinese, many of whom have families in Vancouver. Reception is a bit difficult in some of the concrete apartment blocks in Hong Kong, but is a bit better outside the city. He says they don`t have any problem tuning an SSB signal. The shortwave is just a test and whether it continues will depend on the audience response (via Hans Johnson Feb 19, Cumbre DX Special via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Clandestine, Falun Dafa Radio is using two parallel transmitters on 9305-9325v, one very strong, the other one weak; both jump frequencies every 10-15 mins during Chinese program at *2200- 2300*. Reported using site in Bulgaria, but propagation suggests an E Asian site, since N Korea on 9345 is also strong at 2200 (Ernie Behr, Kenora Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 12579 USB, Another delight to hear AFN 18 Feb at 0320. Quite unusual. I`ve heard them here in the fall, but towards our dawn, not late at night. Signal was well over the usual cochannel ute, and parallel to 12689.5 Key West, FL. Still only poor. The other AFN stations heard with other programming were: 10320 Pearl Harbour, parallel to 6458.5 Puerto Rico (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. AFN on 12579 USB, finally heard first time 11 Feb, from 2300 mostly pop songs, brief PSAs and AFN IDs till 0230 f/out; vy weak under WLO ute noise; was \\ 12689.5 via Florida. That horrible ute is on 24h daily; where is WLO located? (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mobile AL ** ECUADOR. Howdy Glenn. Thanks for the mention of the satellite dish in the current DXLD. I`ve seen the preliminary work on this, but it will be quite different to see it in person when I get back in late March! I`d like to clarify a couple of issues mentioned in your comment after the press release if I may. Many of the outside programs that we carry are going over to only satellite delivery because it is so much more cost effective for them. We would be losing some of these programs without the ability to get this signal. However, getting the signal off the bird will also be a significant time and cost savings to us in Quito as the Dalet on-air system can automatically record these programs off of the satellite. Currently, we receive the programs by cassette, CD, tape or DAT. These are then recorded in real-time into the on-air system. We will not be using the dish to get more U.S.-produced programming. We will be using it to get the current Stateside productions in a more efficient and less costly manner. You are right that high-speed internet connections allow us many opportunities that we did not have before. However, only a couple of the current programs we receive are available in such a format. This too may change in the future, but we have to stay on the air with these programs today! Therefore, yes, we need a huge satellite dish to get these programs. I`ve not spoken with Graham Bulmer as to why a re-run was used on Ham Radio Today this past week. I can say that with John Beck on his Home Assignment, Graham is doing the best he can to maintain the program, but time is limited. Likewise, there was no one to replace me for the production of the DX Partyline during my Home Assignment. The options were to either put the program on hold for 4 months or produce it from here. However, I couldn`t adequately fulfill my commitments here and still do the program in its 50-minute format. The decision was to take it to a 30-minute version for the time being. I don`t like the option, but it`s a whole lot better than the first one! I can tell you that I am fully committed to getting the program back on track as a 50-minute production as of March 31, and I can`t wait to do so! The Quito produced programming is important to us, Glenn. And I don`t see that changing. If we can free ourselves up in some other areas with the help of this satellite feed, it will give us that much more time to focus on our local productions. And again let me say, I can`t wait! Thanks again for using the release and for sharing your thoughts. We as a station and I as an individual appreciate all you do to promote the shortwave hobby and international stations like HCJB. Blessings on you today, Glenn! (Allen Graham, CA, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9475, What a waste of a transmitter. In what is supposed to be English 17 Feb at 0216. Music is in the clear, but not the voice at all. Awful modulation, as is the norm for this North American broadcast. I guess they don`t care whether we in the Americas hear them or not (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. R. Georgia, 11805.3v, heard daily in Dec 00, from 0630 English, 0700 German to 0729*; vy strong 25/12, but not heard since; is xmtr off the air? (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Dieter Weirich was meanwhile interviewed by both ORF/ROI and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg. No word about intentions to become the next director of Hessischer Rundfunk (HR); instead he indicated that he wants to move to Berlin and to work in industry there. It also seems to be no subject for discussion within HR so far who could become the successor of the current director Klaus Berg. It is said that Berg did a rather good job in preserving HR from attacks by the Koch administration at Wiesbaden; it is also said that Berg was ashamed of his institution for the very first time when Koch was called in a TV piece (which was not aired at all after it was announced within a radio show) "arse of the year". By the way, various staff of Deutsche Welle radio said that they did not like Weirich, because he would like to shut down radio completely in favour of TV. It is quite evident that the working conditions at DW radio are quite bad, no surprise considering the heavy reduction in labour. It was of course a source of heavy frustration for the staff of the former European Service of Deutschlandfunk (DLF), that it had to move from DLF to DW, where it was "wound up" only a couple of years later, because it was considered unnecessary to broadcast into "deregulated markets", resulting in a shutdown of the services in Scandinavian languages, Dutch, Italian and so on (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 189 & 207 Iceland on longwave would be an easy catch for DX-ers in North America, am I right? Here Feb 17 2230 good music on 189, just splatter from 183 Europe # 1, on 207 sharing the frequency with Deutschlandfunk. At least QSA 4 on both frequencies. Have a look at an Icelandic homepage e.g. http://www.ismennt.is and you`ll find letters which I think are unique for this language. Do try to pronounce them; they won`t hurt your tongue, just twist it. Icelandic is in the Nordic-Germanic group of languages, but as Norwegian, Danish and Swedish have changed considerably, going their own ways but still quite understandable for each other, Icelandic is the archaic Viking forefather, and all new words from other languages which we adopt in Sweden in an instant, are carefully given their Icelandic form. Television is Sjónvarp, where sjón must be related to Swedish skönja, to see, to glance, and varp is related to English warp, German zu werfen, to throw. We have it in a few special words and meanings in Swedish, all having to do with throw. So are Icelanders linguistically isolated? Not a bit. If a person in another Scandinavian country has to talk to one, not using English, he or she will find that they are perfectly on terms, as Icelanders also talk "Nordic" a hearty mix of Danish and Norwegian mostly. I can`t myself make out Icelandic and it is the same thing with Faroese, which I know you might be able to hear on 531 kHz. 73 de JB (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 189 kHz, RUV, Feb 20 at 0849. Longwave relay of National Radio. It sounded like Channel 2 from the type of programming, but I missed the channel ID. Phone in, drive-time type program with man and woman announcers playing pop mx and taking calls. At 0900, I heard the hour tone and ID "Útvarp Reykjavík" (Radio Reykjavik), time check, ad block, network ID tones, and then into nx. The signal peaked around 0900, which was a quarter hour or so before sunrise there. Weak to fair signal strength (David Hodgson, Nashville, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 13860 USB, Rikisútvarpid signing on 17 Feb at 1833 with what has to be the most phone-like audio heard anywhere on shortwave. Schedule in Icelandic, with many mentions of "KHz", then into presumed news. Fair to good. Listed to North America at this time (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR on 11695, from 1330 Nepali program and local music to 1430*v; hrd since 15/1; poor mod and many audio breaks; what is the site of this transmitter? See VOA below (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR not listed here in B-00 HFCC ** IRAQ. R, Iraq Int`l was just pounding in last night, 11784.9 at 2200-2300+, 0300-0400, both doing extremely well. The earlier one went past 2300, not sure when it went off. And back on just before 0300, with an interval signal of a little bird singing, I had not heard before. 0300 full ID, famous news theme we heard so many times during the Gulf War. No English, tho, at least when I was listening, contrary to listings (Sheldon Harvey, CKUT International Radio Report Feb 18 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Since Saturday afternoon I have been hearing Radio Iraq International with a powerhouse signal from 2030 to past 2300 UT, and then again starting at 0300. On Saturday night they were using a "bird" interval signal leading up to the 0300 broadcast. The frequency over the weekend was 11784.8 kHz, but today (Feb 19), CIDXer Dave Melanson, of Verdun, Quebec, noted that they have drifted up to 11787. They have had English, German, French and Arabic programming so far. English has been between 2030 and 2050 UT; German was heard today at 2145 and French at 2200. I have only heard Arabic programming so far on the 0300 transmission. This seems to be an incredibly powerful transmitter, possible 250 or even 500 kW. The audio at times is quite muffled and difficult to decipher. Wondering if maybe a jamming transmitter was put on line for broadcasting purposes, as a reaction to the air strikes on Friday by US & UK planes (Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked Feb 19 at 2240, and 11787 was not so good. Sounded like Arabic. Would not be surprised if two separate transmitters rather than one drifting (gh, OK) Yes, it is Arabic right now (2255 UT), but now a strong het from 11790 kHz. Noticed on Saturday that their time pips on the hour were about 2 minutes off as well. The audio quality seems to vary quite a bit throughout the broadcast (Sheldon Harvey, QC, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. IRAN. V. of Islamic Revolution of Iraq, heard on 7100 since 9/1, from *0330 Arabic talk and Quran till 0430 f/out; same ID as heard on 6195 in Feb 2000: ``Saut al-Thowrah al-islamiyah al- Iraq`` (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND? 6220, Laser Hot Hits, 0518 Feb 19, pop music, Louis Armstrong, "You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties" by Jona Lewie, English-accented announcer, phone number, web site http://www.radiolink.net/hothits can`t understand formatted e-mail, Billy Bremner "Loud Music in Cars", Merlin, Ontario address, ID, e- mail addresses; // 3934.95, best ever heard, totally intelligible. Location was Tinton Falls, New Jersey, USA, and the receiver was an AOR AR-7030 hooked up to a 250 foot mini-Beverage pointed due east (Ralph Brandi, SWBC@topica.com via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. From: http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/medianews.html 19 Feb 2001: The external service has changed its name in all languages from Radio Pyongyang to the Voice of Korea. This is interesting, as Radio Korea (the external service of South Korea) also refers to itself on its Web site as `the Voice of Korea`. The North Korean station does not have a Web site, but the current schedule as monitored by the Nagoya DXers Circle in Japan can be found here http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/nk.htm ((c) Radio Netherlands Media Network via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 17725, Voice of Africa 18 Feb at 1733 from Arabic into English. Strong signal, but with some flutter and echo making it difficult to copy. Wasn`t even sure it was English initially. Situation was greatly improved by using John Bryant`s audio box, with audio from my Collins R390A with SE-3 feeding the right channel, and my HF-2050 feeding the left. Stereo effect greatly improves intelligibility of signal. Into French at 1739 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6184.96, Strong signal from Radio Educación 18 Feb at 0234 with an English program by a heavily accented YL, about 15th century Mexican history. The off frequency is always a dead giveaway, as they never seem to drift up or down from this frequency. Good to very good (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA/USA. RFE/RL expands broadcasts to Moldova | Excerpt from press release by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on 19 February Washington, DC, 19 February: RFE/RL President Thomas A. Dine announced today that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is dramatically increasing its broadcasts dedicated to Moldova. "RFE/RL", Dine said, "has been the only international broadcaster with a programme dedicated to Moldova since its Romanian Service opened a bureau in Chisinau and began carrying 25 minutes a day of special programming for Moldova in 1997." Even before that time, RFE/RL broadcast special weekly broadcasts to that republic. "Now", the RFE/RL president said, "our broadcasts will increase to one hour a day five days a week". In recognition of the importance of this new effort, Dine said that the Romanian Service will now be known as the Romania-Moldova Service. "Because Moldovans can fully understand Romanian programming", Dine pointed out, "many have assumed that Moldova does not need its own special broadcasts. But as valuable and useful as the Romanian Service programming has been for Moldovans", he continued, "RFE/RL's new and expanded programme of broadcasts to Moldova is a recognition of the importance of that country and its people". The newly expanded broadcasts will be prepared by a broadcaster in Prague, the staff of the Chisinau bureau and ten journalists in the country working as stringers. In addition, these programmes will draw on the work of other staffers in the Romania-Moldova Service... Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty press release, Washington, in English 19 Feb 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MOZAMBIQUE. Radio tests Internet transmission Radio Mozambique has begun experimental transmissions via the Internet. The tests can be heard at http://www.macua.com/radiomocambique01.html Source: BBC Monitoring research 19 Feb 01 (via DXLD) Via Live 365! Which I think means it is *not live*. All I have heard so far have been some music tracks, between dropouts (gh) Further monitoring observations of the "Africa Radio Mozambique" web site and audio available at the URL http://www.macua.com/radiomocambique01.html suggest that it is an Internet-only radio station which is not connected with the state broadcaster Radio Mozambique, Maputo, at URL http://www.teledata.mz/radiomocambique/index.html Source: BBC Monitoring research 20 Feb 01 (via DXLD) ** OMAN. 15355, Radio Sultanate of Oman. I was surprised to hear them in English 18 Feb at 0318, as the solar flux has not been very high. Still they were in the clear with fair to good strength. English international news (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan, 9394 [not 9395 as in original posting -gh] \\ 7375, from *1357 IS, English ID and Turki, 1430 Russian to 1516*; fair since 20/12 (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. I asked Mikhail Timofeyev about the "dramatically deteriorated electromagnetic situation" at St. Petersburg. He replied: "I did not hear about our dramatic electromagnetic situation (in spite of I work at the broadcasting enterprise!)." I guess that some problems with either transmitters (probably FM/TV) or, perhaps more likely, satellite downlink equipment resulted in some unscheduled transmission breaks at night for maintenance/repair work, that`s all (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Regarding 6230 at 1900-2100, which is disturbed by strong RTTY on 6227: It is intended to replace this frequency by 6235, probably within the next few days. Bernd Trutenau points out that these broadcasts are actually presented on air as "Radio studio Nevskaya Volna", so one should not be surprised if not hearing "Gardarika" identifications (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. NEW 6230 R Studio Doma Radio Gardarika, St. Petersburg, Feb 16, 17 & 18, *1900-2100* , Russian pop mx, DJ announcements in Russian in a modern western style, frequent ID's: "Radio Studio". Relays FM-station. 54554 with CWQRM from 6227 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. Yugoslavia: No signals today on 6100, 7200, 7215 and 9620. I will keep watching... (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And nothing but Budapest 2300-2400 on 9580 subsequently (gh) ** UKRAINE. 9385, 18 Feb at 0403 was expecting to hear English, but someone was asleep at the controls. Instead, heard German programming from Radio Ukraine International. The following night they were back with English. Again, the signal can be good at times, with parallel 9610 fair to good at best (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) * U K. From: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/03/wheatcroft.htm The Atlantic Monthly | March 2001 Who Needs the BBC? The British Broadcasting Corporation is having a hard time living up to its past. But what a past! Our correspondent reviews its history, seeking the roots of its present troubles, by Geoffrey Wheatcroft (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K. I recall you were announcing times that NAm listeners could hear the African-stream-only "Story of Africa" program. I just today happened across a good signal carrying it on 21470 kHz at 1630 UT Tuesdays. This being after the Meridian Screen program makes a good hour of BBC for those who have mid-day in NA available, especially if one missed Meridian Screen at 1405 UT on the Americas stream earlier. By the way, have you noticed distinctly poorer quality on the BBC Americas relays in the local evenings in recent weeks? 9590 kHz used to consistently be the best, strongest, & clearest signal then, but lately 6175 and 5975 have been better most times I tune in. But all seem poorer than a month or so back. Am I just hearing the effects of propagation changes over the season? Or has there been any news of relay-tx-site changes or the like? 73, (Will Martin, MO, Feb 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Suspect it is just propagation. Keep in mind that 9590 comes from two different sites, whose skip distances to any given point in between have a bearing on comparative reception: at 2200-2400 it`s Sackville, 0000-0200 Delano; likewise 6175 at 2000-0500 is Sackville, 0500-0800 Delano. With 6135 in between, the Delano sequence (not necessarily the same transmitter) is: 0000-0200 9590, 0200-0500 6135, 0500-0800 6175. Yes, I should have mentioned 21470 at 1630, when it is Ascension to eastern and southern Africa (gh) ** U S A. Glenn, you may be interested in what I heard on WGTG 6890 in the late fall of 2000. Several months before he sold WGTG, Dave Frantz went into daily tirades, often for a full hour, attacking SW listeners, preachers, militias, and other SW stations, blaming everyone for his financial problems and lack of support. Brother Stair and other preachers were his prime target; he called them liars and con artists, but as soon as WGTG became WWFV, Brother Stair got 8 hours of daily airtime on 5085. On Nov 24, Frantz was blasting gh for getting free airtime on WWCR and WBCQ. Frantz continued to rant almost every night, blasting the preachers and militias, saying he is sick & tired of running the station, he could be making a lot more money working for the government, etc., etc. [He used to be an inspector for the FAA, he has told me – gh] On Dec 5, after 0200 UT, another transmitter appeared on 6890, under WWFV while Frantz was in another tirade. During brief pauses, I heard the other station operator shouting: ``Dave Frantz, you`re a gutless liar... we are the Kentucky State Militia, we don`t need you anymore, Dave Frantz... we have our own SW transmitter... there`s no support for you, Dave, you`re a damn liar``, etc. This went on for several days, and I think the other station mentioned running 80 watts. More recently, Frantz was on again, pushing his SSB propaganda, urging listeners to buy SSB receivers because ``all SW stations are converting to SSB soon`` (which is nonsense). He also said he`s expanding WWFV to 5 SSB xmtrs of 100 kW each, and the daily rants against preachers and militias have apparently ceased. By the way, nothing bothers me more than the horrible modulation I hear on many SW stations, including RCI, HCJB and RFPI, to name a few. It seems technical standards don`t exist anymore, and we can forget about DXing when digital SW goes into operation (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Strange VOA xmtr heard for about one week in Jan on 11695; 16/1 from *1456 English talk and VOA News Now to 1600*; 19/1 same at *1458-1603*, many breaks in audio; 20/1 from *1500 Chinese, 1600 Asian language and VOA ID to 1800*; 21/1 from *1457 VOA News Now to 1558*; nothing heard since 22/1. Xmtr sounded similar to AIR on 11695 to 1430*; poor mod and many audio breaks. Any reports on this? VOA still on 11695 at *0000-0100* with VOA News Now, from which site? (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 0000 it is Greenville; others on 11695 were tests from a new relay site, identity not released, but surely not India; see DXLD 1-008 (gh, DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. Radio Tashkent. 7215. My favourite for this weekend`s DX session. Heard regularly each day with reception often at good levels. Starting with English at 0100. Signal peaks here usually about 0130 to 0200. Parallel 5955 not as strong, and suffers more splatter. Radio Vatandosh ID in Uzbek at 0257, heard past 0310. Listed sign-off of 0330. Tonight the English broadcast had the usual sign-off music at 0128. Suffered from static crashes I hadn`t noticed the last 2 nights (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, 17-19 February, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 4795.9, Son La Radio & TV Station, Feb 16, 17, 18 & 19- 20, 2245-0033(fade out), Vietnamese talk and mountain tribal songs without music, 2329 instrumental interval signal and ID: "Viet Nam.....dai phat (sounds like HI-FI in English) thanh truyen hinh Son La". Thanks to Alan Davies for assisting me with the ID which can be found on http://members.tripod.co.uk/agd12/audio/son4796d.wav (about 450 kB). Then followed a similar programme in one of the mountain tribal languages, obviously with extended morning service. 24232 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Stn on 5025 hrd only once, Feb 4, from 1425 opera singers, 1430 English news and talk till 1500 f/out; too weak to get an ID; any reports on this? Stn on 7385 hrd only once, Feb 4, from 0120 E Euro folk mx, no announcements or IDs to 0140* abrupt s/off; vy strong (Ernie Behr, Kenora, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) 160-METER DX CONTEST WEEKEND ============================ A question for Bob Chandler or anyone else who might know. I am aware that the CQWW 160m contest (SSB) takes place this coming weekend. In the past, there has sometimes been an SWL contest in conjunction with this event. Will there be one this year, and if so, where can I get a copy of the rules? During the winter, I concentrate on DX below 2 MHz, mainly mediumwave with some excursions into longwave and 160m. On 160 I have heard and verified 9 provinces (B.C. is heard but not verified) and 46 states (need Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska and Hawaii and all the Territories). I have heard 37 countries on 160 with 29 verified. I often find the week before the contest rather productive as DX stations can be heard testing with little domestic QRM. The ARRL DX contest in early March is also good as the DX on 160 is more spread out. That being said, I have heard some good DX during the CQWW 160 contest and it can be good for adding new states and provinces (Morris Sorensen, Winnipeg, ODXA Feb 19 via DXLD) Hi Morris, The best way to check is to go to the ARRL`s web site at http://www.arrl.org and click on "Operating Activities." complete rules are published there. If you have more questions, just send your queries to the Contest Branch Manager at n1nd@arrl.org and he`ll give you the low-down (so to speak!). 160m is a great band and there is quite a bit of activity there. You are absolutely right; the week leading up to this, and, in fact, any contest is a rich period for finding some interesting DX as they get their stations ready. 73 es gud dx, (Ori, ODXA via DXLD) Hi Morris! Yes, there is a 160 meter SWL contest that runs in conjunction with this weekend`s CQ 160 meter SSB Contest. I sent an e-mail to Bob Treacher BRS32525 with that very question a couple of days ago and have just received a response today as I hadn`t seen anything posted on the SWARL reflector (SWARL by the way is the "Shortwave Amateur Radio Listeners" reflector and its a very active group!) Anyway....Bob sent me the rules for the SWL side of the contest. Incidentally, if anyone would like to get on the "SWARL" reflector, just go to http://swarl.listbot.com The info is useful for both SWLs and hams... in fact often the DX info rivals that of some of the ham reflectors. 73 de (Bob VE3SRE, ODXA) Here they are, the rules for the SWL side of the CQ World-Wide 160 meter contest. By the way, they also had a 160m CW SWL contest, but that has passed. Anyway, mediumwave band DXers might also want to try participating since the propagation characteristics of 160 meters 1.800-1.999 MHz are so similar to those of the AM broadcast band. Or hams who just don`t have the real estate for a 160 meter antenna might want to participate as SWLs. I do know that in Europe especially there are SWLs who get involved in this contest just as heavily as any ham would. So....have some fun with it! SWL RULES FOR THE 2001 CQ WORLD-WIDE 160 METER DX CONTEST Short Wave Listeners around the World are invited to take part in the 2001 CQ World-Wide 160 metre DX Contests. The objective is to hear as many countries, U.S states and Canadian provinces as possible on the 160 metre band. When: CW: 2200z 26th January to 1600z 28th January 2001. SSB: 2200z 23rd February to 1600z 25th February 2001. Sections: Single and multi-operator sections. Scoring: Stations from the SWL`s own country count 2 points. Stations from other countries in the same continent as the SWL count 5 points. Stations from countries in other continents count 10 points. Multiplier: Each DXCC country (not W and VE), U.S state and Canadian Province heard counts as a multiplier. Countries are those on the current DXCC list plus additional countries from the WAE list (IT9, GM Shetland Is., etc). Final Score: Total points multiplied by the total number of multipliers (DX countries, states and provinces). Awards: Certificates of merit will be sent to the leading SWLs in each section and the leading listener in each DXCC country providing the listener has at least 25% of the winner`s score. Logs: Logs should show Date, Time (UT), station heard, RS(T) report and country prefix or country abbreviation, U.S.A state or Canadian province given by station heard, RS(T) report of station heard [no report shall be less than 33(9) and reports are not expected to be 59(9) in every case], station worked, multiplier, points. Any unmarked duplicate will lose 10 times the logging value. A Multiplier check list MUST be provided. Entries: CW Logs MUST be postmarked no later than 26 February 2001; SSB logs MUST be postmarked no later than 26 March 2001. Entries to CQ160 SWL Contest Director, Bob Treacher BRS32525, 93 Elibank Road, Eltham, London SE9 1QJ, ENGLAND. Please enclose 2 IRC or $1 if you want a copy of the results (via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) ###